From time to time we introduce you to the blogs in our sidebar. This seems like a good time to showcase Legal Insurrection, which is moving from Blogger to its own domain. Blog owner, William A. Jacobson is an Associate Clinical Professor at Cornell Law School, and his blog has fast become one of the top go-to blogs in the country.

We recommend you add it to your own blog list, and you can always click in right from our sidebar.

President Obama still has a shot at convincing voters that the GOP would make things worse, but his administration has not just lost control over the direction of the economy. It has lost control of the discussion about the economy.

Republican activists have waited all week to see a front-running presidential candidate. When Texas Gov. Rick Perry took the stage Saturday, they may have finally gotten their glimpse.

In a 20-minute address to about 2,000 activists at the Republican Leadership Conference, Perry decried the Obama administration and even Republicans he blamed for "apologizing" while touting his own record with remarks that sounded conspicuously like a stump speech.

"This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area," Perry said. He called Obama's approach to the economy "an affront to every freedom-loving American and a threat to every private sector job in this country."

"I stand before you today as a disciplined, conservative Texan, a committed Republican and a proud American, united with you in the desire to restore our nation and revive the American dream," he said.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer was heckled and booed Friday at the annual Netroots Nation conference in Minnesota, a gathering of liberal activists from the online political community. When Mr. Pfeiffer reminded the audience that the president championed an equal-pay law, the moderator replied, “Frankly we’re a little sick of hearing about that one.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley heard heated complaints from business leaders about burdensome government regulations at a meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington. As Mr. Daley listened to tales of the administration’s unnecessary interference in industry, he replied, “Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible.”

Brown said in a statement that the budget -- which lawmakers passed with a simple majority Wednesday and without any Republican support -- was not financially viable and contained “legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings.”

In vetoing the budget bill, Governor Brown criticized Republicans for stymieing his proposed election to extend temporary taxes. But the real message was delivered to Democratic leadership in the Legislature: "I'm in charge here."

Pressured by a deadline to play-or-not-get-paid, Democratic majorities passed a gimmicky budget, described by the Governor as "not a balanced solution." He further said the budget "continues big deficits for years to come and adds billions of dollars in new debt. It also contains legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings. Finally, it is not financeable and therefore will not allow us to meet our obligations as they occur."

So he didn't explicitly finger Democrats for this situation, but it is an unavoidable conclusion given the partisan, simple majority character of the final product.

Although Gov. Brown did the right thing in vetoing the horrendous and irresponsible budget passed by legislative Democrats this week, praise must be withheld given the reason for his veto: he wishes to extend the largest state tax increase in U.S. history.

The move marked the first time since 1986 that legislators produced a budget by the June 15 deadline, with the Senate voting 23-15 and the Assembly 51-23 in favor of the main bill AB 98. Both votes were achieved with a simple majority and without the support of any Republican representatives.

Had the constitutional deadline not been met, lawmakers would have forfeited their salary and per diem pay starting immediately, amounting to $48,603.50 a day in savings for the state, according to data from the state controller's office. The docked pay -- in addition to the ability for lawmakers to pass a budget with a simple majority rather than a two-thirds vote -- are the product of last year's voted-approved Proposition 25, which is seen as the primary factor for the package being produced on time...

Unlike Brown's proposal from earlier in the year, the current budget does not seek to reduce California's “wall of debt,” estimated to be $35 billion. Democrats said that had tax extensions been approved in a special election -- something that became impossible after negotiations between both sides fell apart in March -- that figure would have been reduced to $6 billion.

Republicans said the budget package was a “missed opportunity,” and one that destroys job creation and continues the trend of spending more money than we bring in.

”We've been kicking the can down the road for the better part of 50 years. That's why we've gotten into this mess where we are today,” said Sen. Tom Berryhill, R-Stanislaus.

Republican Party Chair Tom Del Beccaro issued a statement following the Senate vote:

”Democrats have demonstrated that they are truly out of touch with the people of California. Instead of making the necessary and popular reforms to California's bureaucracy, the Democrats have chosen to pass a legally suspicious budget to save their own paychecks. It's now up to Jerry Brown to finally keep one of his promises, do the right thing, and say no to the Democrats' gimmicks-based budget solution.”

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University undertook a study of personal liberty in each of the 50 states, based explicitly on “an individual-rights framework.” First started in 2009, Mercatus has fine-tuned the study to include more policy variables — and that’s bad news for Massachusetts. Thanks to the health-insurance mandate as well as a number of other restrictive measures, the Bay State has fallen to 46th among the states for freedom...

The Bay State ranks near the bottom of a new “Freedom in the 50 States” study, which found the health-care law, gun laws, taxes and a string of other “nanny state” rules on smoking, seat belts, transfats and firecrackers makes Massachusetts one of the least free states in the nation.

New Hampshire, the commonwealth’s “Live Free or Die” rival to the north, ranked first in freedom, in the study by the libertarian Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Massachusetts trailed at 46th.

“The big takeaway is that Massachusetts is not doing well overall in terms of freedom,” said study co-author William Ruger, despite the state’s laissez faire attitude toward gay marriage and pot. “There’s this kind of stereotype or myth that the deep blue states are more economically restrictive but more personally free. But the data doesn’t actually bear that out . . . Liberals tend to want to constrain your freedom in all areas.”

Timeline and breakdown: "Ethel's" public tweets relating to Weinergate. Lessons to be learned.

To Parents of Teenage Girls: Good grief. Keep an eye on your daughters. Perhaps you’re one of those hip, liberal parents who likes to treat their children like their friends, who’d smoke pot and talk sex with them. If you are, there’s nothing I can say to you. Your daughters are ripe targets for a lot of creeps out there in the world, both online and in person. If you’re not that way and life has just been too busy and you’ve been too distracted, and well, your daughter is quite a handful and it’s exhausting to try to control her behavior and life around the house is easier to just let her do what she wants: stop now. Go read through her entire twitter and facebook history. Make sure you know how she has been presenting herself to the world. If she’s been presenting a bad image, erase it all immediately, everywhere you can find it. And then work with her on learning how to put forth an image of the type of person she wants to be, someone she’ll be proud to have live on long after she’s outgrown today’s crushes and black nail polish and youthful indiscretions.

The media haven‘t yet found the smoking gun they’ve been looking for in Sarah Palin’s e-mails. Overall, the messages have been benign, lacking the excitement and scandal some hoped they would contain. That said, at least one outlet has gone a different route, questioning the former vice-presidential candidate’s intelligence through the expertise of writing analysts....

“I’m a centrist Democrat, and would have loved to support my hunch that Ms. Palin is illiterate,” said 2tor Chief Executive Officer John Katzman.
“However, the emails say something else...."

◼ California's electricity costs are already 50% higher on average than other states.
◼ Costly energy is a main factor killing well-paying blue collar jobs in such fields as manufacturing and driving California's unemployment to record highs.
◼ High electricity rates are a key factor in California's unusually high gas prices. Oil refining is energy intensive and high rates for refiners mean higher gas prices for all of us.
◼ If this tax was ever necessary, it is not anymore. Since this tax was imposed in 1996 as a temporary measure to encourage renewable energy after utility deregulation, many other expensive green energy mandates have been imposed and the utility industry has been re-regulated.
◼ The tax dollars paid into this program have been mismanaged and used for things having nothing to do with energy, including how "global warming" might affect bird distribution.
◼ One new green energy mandate alone is expected to raise energy costs by 30-80%, so your help is crucial to stopping this unnecessary job-killing tax.

A $350 million a year energy tax is really the last thing we need in this time of record high unemployment. Some Republicans in the Assembly have already supported these bills, which are identical except for the length of time they extend the tax, so we cannot count on Senate Republicans to stand against these bills unless we make ourselves heard.

Perhaps the Assemblymembers who betrayed their supposed belief in fiscal responsibility and job creation thought nobody would notice. It's time for us to turn up the pressure, so Senate Republicans will be under no illusion that citizens aren't paying attention.

Thank you for your support. Restoring our state to economic prosperity is possible and your activism is key. Can you imagine that a generation ago, electricity was so cheap they thought meters would be obsolete within a decade? The only thing that has driven up costs is government, so it is well within our reach to get our Golden State back!

Mrs. Obama will be in California (June 13 and 14), visiting Los Angeles, Pasadena, Oakland and San Francisco. She will hold two official “first lady” events and be the star attraction at FOUR fundraisers.

Whether she would have attended the official events if she wasn’t going to troll for money is anyone’s guess. But what seems likely is the cost of flying Michelle out to the West Coast so she can soak the legions of wealthy Californian Democrats for cash is being mitigated by having the official appearances on the schedule.

The first lady’s office did not respond to a request for information about whether and how much of the trip will be paid for by the government....

Some key language from the ruling, which overturned Judge Sumi's rulings both procedurally (for interfering in the legislative process) and substantively (there was no violation of the Open Meetings Law) at the link.

I have spoken to Lady Thatcher’s Private Office regarding the story, and they confirm that the attack on Sarah Palin definitely did not come from her office, and in no way reflects her views. As a former aide to Margaret Thatcher myself, I can attest that this kind of thinking is entirely alien to her, and that such remarks would never be made by her office. She has always warmly welcomed like-minded figures in the United States, and has in the past met with numerous US presidential candidates and political dignitaries when they have visited London. But at the age of 85 she is now able to receive very few visitors at all.

There was never any snub of Sarah Palin by Lady Thatcher’s office. However, there has been a great deal of mischief-making and unpleasantness from sections of the liberal press in a vain and futile attempt to use Margaret Thatcher’s name to smear a major US politician

Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. He appears frequently on American and British television and radio, including Fox News Channel, CNN, BBC, Sky News, and NPR.

Monday, June 13, 2011

The first female contender to enter the 2012 race, Bachmann announced her bid during a Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. The third-term Minnesota congresswoman has been leaning heavily toward a run over the past few months, visiting early primary states, raising money and railing against President Barack Obama.

"We cannot risk giving President Obama four more years to dismantle our nation. We must act now," Bachmann said in a fundraising letter sent within an hour of her entrance. "That's why I've made the decision to get in this race."

She brings high energy, charisma and proven fundraising ability to the race to nominate a Republican challenger to Obama. She also is known for unyielding stances, biting commentary and high-profile gaffes....

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will participate in the debate on the campus of St. Anselm College, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT on Monday, June 13.
◼ CNN debate: What to watch for - CNN

CNN hosts the first New Hampshire Republican presidential debate Monday night from Manchester at 8 p.m. ET (5:00 ON THE WEST COAST). Follow all the issues and campaign news about the debate on CNNPolitics.com and @cnnpolitics on Twitter. Watch the debate on CNN TV, CNN.com and mobile devices. And participate with your questions on the live blog on the CNN Political Ticker.

June 10, 2011, Commission Votes 14-0 to Approve 1st Draft District Maps
With four 14-0 votes, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has released its first round of draft maps for Congressional, State Assembly, State Senate and Board of Equalization districts.

The Commission is now soliciting public comment on the draft districts. Testimony can be submitted online to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by mail to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Sacramento, CA 95814 or by FAX at 916-651-5711. The Commission will be holding 11 public input hearings in June on the draft maps. The hearing schedule and the draft maps can be found at the Commission’s website at wedrawthelines.ca.gov

The Redistricting Group at Berkeley Law (affiliated with the Statewide Database) has opened six technical assistance sites in the following locations: San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Fresno, Sacramento and Berkeley. These sites, designed to encourage public participation in the state redistricting process, have computers and redistricting software available for use by the general public, so that individuals and groups may develop map submissions or testimony for the states Citizens Redistricting Commission.

If anything, Mrs Palin seems likely to emerge from the scrutiny of the 24,000 pages, contained in six boxes and weighing 275 pounds, with her reputation considerably enhanced. As a blogger at Powerline noted, the whole saga might come to be viewed as “an embarrassment for legacy media”.

From the comments: The Fish and Game board pushed the wolf-shooting decision onto the governor, seemingly before Palin was elected. She took the hit, when she was in office trying to help the Alaskan people with "the predator problem" suffered by fellow Alaskans. She clearly states that AK state intervention was undesired, especially the helicopter shooting.

Vindicates her. Completely.

Also, that she was concerned with getting the message straight on the issues facing Alaska.

Oh, and she was on top of staffing just after her swearing in, and wanting to ensure the State of the State speech was clear to ensure the Alaskan people knew what was going on.

Also - she wanted her administration to be open, to allow them to speak to the press.

Mr. Obama, who enraged many financial industry executives a year and a half ago by labeling them “fat cats” and criticizing their bonuses, followed up the meeting with phone calls to those who could not attend...

Executives at large investment banks, a group that gave generously to Mr. Obama in his last campaign, are remaining on the sidelines for now. Only a small handful of such donors have appeared in Mr. Obama’s joint campaign filings with the Democratic National Committee, though officials there said more would appear in the coming weeks.

Some traditional heavy hitters in Democratic Wall Street fund-raising have stepped out of the game. They include Maureen White and her husband, Steven L. Rattner, a founder of the Quadrangle Group, whose Fifth Avenue living room was a critical conduit between Wall Street and Democratic candidates in the years before Mr. Rattner joined the Obama administration to help restructure the auto industry. The couple did not resume their old role after Mr. Rattner left government, and he was caught up last year in an investigation into kickbacks to New York’s state pension fund....

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“Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” .....Robert A. Heinlein quotes (American science-fiction Writer, 1907-1988)